Advance of personal computer consequently results in swift improvement in the peripheral accessories, such as a hard disk drive, a DVD player, a scanning machine, and a printing machine. The peripheral accessories are inevitable tools in an office. Since the cost of the peripheral accessories becomes cheaper day-by-day, they are widely used at homes not only in offices. An optical disk drive, such as a DVD player, is widely used since an optical disk is capable of storing a large amount of data permanently. The stored data may include music and movies that can be written in programs and are stored in the optical disk. The latest DVD disk (digital versatile disc) of 17 GB has a relatively large storage capacity and subsequently renders a wide use of the DVD player at home and offices.
In order to increase the reading efficiency of the device 10, the optical disk is arranged in such manner to rotate under high speed. The motor for running the optical disk of 40× rotates 8000 rotations per minute. Under such high speed, the centrifugal force resulting from rotation of the optical disk is relatively large. There is possibility of a breakup of the rotating disk under high rotation speed.
To lower the price of DVD disk, the manufacturing cost thereof must also be reduced. Some of the DVD disk manufacturers use recycled plastic in order to cut down the price of the DVD disk such that the quality of some of the DVC is subsequently affected and the service life and durability are consequently shortened. In some cases, interrupted tracks can be found on the inner portion of the recording surface of the optical disk. Such a DVD disk is susceptible to break under high rotation speed.
Imperfect production may cause the DVD disk to have a plurality of bubbles. Uneven coating on the recording surface of the DVD disk and improper utility of the DVD disk may cause the DVD disk to bend in one direction, which in turn, offset the gravity center away from an axis of the DVD disk. The DVD disk may vibrate in upward-and-downward direction under the high rotation speed. In case the DVD disk is produced from poor quality, a crack up or rupture of the DVD disk is possible.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional optical disk drive 10 (a DVD player) is installed in a personal computer 1 so as to perform reading of the optical disk, and includes a disk compartment, a disk-carrying tray 12 disposed within the disk compartment and extendible outwardly therefrom upon pressing of an on/off switch 10S that is formed on an outer face of the disk compartment. The disk-carrying tray 12 is formed with a recess to receive the optical disk 11 therein, and is retractable into the disk compartment upon pressing of the on/off switch 10S. A shielding member 14 is attached to a distal end of the disk-carrying tray 12 in such a manner that the shielding member 14 is flush with the outer face of the disk compartment so as to provide aesthetic effect and prevent dirt from getting thereinto when the disk-carrying tray retracts interior of the disk compartment.
Note that the disk-carrying tray 12 and the shielding member 14 are made from plastic material, and are not integrally formed together. The shielding member 14 is attached to the disk-carrying tray 12 via hook-and-loop engagement. In case there is cracking or breakup of the optical disk under high rotation speed, the disk-carrying tray 12 and the shielding member 14 are first to be collided by the broken pieces, which in turn, may result in disengagement of the shielding member 14 from the disk-carrying tray 12. The fly out broken pieces of the optical disk may injure a person standing nearby the device 10. FIG. 1 illustrates a state of cracking of the optical disk 11.
Referring to FIG. 2, to solve the aforesaid drawback, an elongated metal bar 16 is mounted rearwardly of the shielding member 14 in order to prevent impact of the broken pieces against the shielding member 14. Two fastener screws 18 extends through opposite ends of the metal bar 16, are fastened to the lateral side walls 17 of the disk compartment. Under such arrangement, the metal bar 16 can prevent the dispersion of the broken pieces. However, damage to the reading or/and writing head may result since the head can be collided by the broken pieces, which rebound from the metal bar 16. In addition, boring of two holes in the lateral sidewalls 17 of the disk compartment for mounting of the metal bar 16 causes a large manufacture expense of the device 10.